The Unremembered by Peter Orullian

The Unremembered is almost a coming of age story with a Fellowship of the Ring type feel. Which isn’t to say that it’s mimicking Tolkien or anyone else just merely it’s an adventure story in which a number of travellers unwittingly embark upon a quest, get split up along the way and all continue to travel towards a known destination.

This is a story of good vs evil although there is still room for manoeuvre in that respect, by which I mean not everything is as cut and dried as it may first appear. I don’t really want to elaborate on the plot too much as it develops quite well as you read along.

There are a number of characters and I won’t deny that these are all introduced in fairly quick succession which does slow the read down somewhat as you try to remember who everyone is, their names, the relationship they have to each other and their histories. We have Tahn, who is really the ‘chosen one’. His sister Wendra, who has some magical ability of her own and their friends Sutter and Braethen. We are then introduced to a mysterious character called Vendanj. He is a Sheason and therefore able to perform magic. Unfortunately in this world this isn’t a welcome ability. His companion is Mira of the Far race of people. The Far live their lives full and fast and die young with the promise to meet in the lands beyond. Alone the way we have a young boy who is taken under the wing of Wendra and something of a rogue character who lives in Exile, called Grant.

Now on top of these characters and all your other everyday types we have the evil which is currently being kept apart from the rest of the world by a veil. This veil is maintained by magic. Unfortunately over the course of time people have forgotten about the danger that lives so close to them. They have become complacent and in fact superstition and fear means they have now turned against those that would protect them. Magic is outlawed and the League enforce law and order. For those practising magic the penalty is death.

I thought this was a well imagined and well written book. The threat from evil escalated quickly with creatures called The Quiet Given and the Bar Dyn. The author clearly has a vision of where this is going and this story provides a strong foundation. I did however have some criticisms.

The story starts out in a complicated way with many introductions and this undoubtedly slows down the speed at which you become involved as there is a lot to take on board. On top of that I personally felt this could probably have been shortened slightly. I really enjoyed the late introductory and middle chapters but personally felt like the last third dragged a little. This definitely has an old school feel to it which I personally really enjoyed as it’s becoming fairly rare these days but in that respect there is no snarky dialogue to offset the darker elements. In fact there aren’t really any darker elements. I would have liked to see a bit more banter between the group. And of course we have the whole ‘chosen one’ element which I’m never overly fond of, particularly when in conjunction with a number of the people knowing more than the rest and sharing nods and winks but never sharing their knowledge. I really dislike this to be honest. It ranks right up there with my dislike of love triangles. I just don’t see how withholding information from people who are already in life threatening situations is a good thing. You certainly won’t be able to impart your words of wisdom to them if they die in the next fight so really this comes over as little more than a poorly concealed device to keep information from the reader. On a very small note I found the constant reference to Sutter as ‘Nails’ irritating. Okay. It’s his nickname. But it wasn’t used as such. It just changed from Nails to Sutter for no apparent reason. Only a little niggle but nonetheless something that did bug me slightly.

On the whole though I thought this was a good read. It could use a little refinement but I think if you’re looking for old school, epic fantasy this could be just what you’re after.

I received a copy from the publishers via Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Lots of people just find Tolkien too wordy/descriptive I think and also there’s the fact that fantasy has moved on. It’s much more noticeable now I think. I’ve come to expect something different from my fantasy – a bit more grit and a little less perfect clothes and hair!
Lynn 😀

I definitely had criticisms with this and I certainly thought it cd be shortened. I also thought there were similarities to other epic style fantasy already out there but I kind of think that is inevitable in some ways. I will definitely continue with the next book to see how it develops.

The old school thing sounds good, for a change of pace if nothing else, but your criticisms do give me pause. Guess I’ll add it to the pile just more toward the middle. Thanks for your thoughts on this one. 🙂

Yeah, I liked parts of this better than others. It’s a very long book and there was a couple of parts where it dragged but I will be interested in seeing what happens in the next book. I know there are criticisms about this being similar to Robert Jordan but I haven’t read the Wheel of Time so I can’t say whether or not that’s the case. It does feel like old school epic fantasy though. In fact I would say it definitely reminded me a little of Tolkien but I think that’s the thing with epic fantasy – maybe there’s always going to be some reminders in there?
Lynn 😀

I actually haven’t read any Jordan so this wouldn’t occur to me. I did feel it had similarities to Tolkien. I had a number of criticisms and felt it lacked pace at certain points but I thought it was well done to a point. I would recommend but think it would appeal more to new fans of fantasy in that you wdnt be making comparisons. I certainly thought it showed promise. A bit over long and lacked focus at certain points due to that but I would carry on to seehowit develops